Money management using Linux / Ubuntu

One of my customers desperately wants to hang on to an almost 10 year old computer. His Windows Me installation started showing its age almost three years ago, but he persevered. He mainly uses email, Internet, a word processor and Quicken to write checks and track his income and expenses for his small business.

After much discussion, he decided that he wanted to try Ubuntu. His machine sports 256mb of RAM (hey that was a ton in 1999) and a 1.5 ghz processor, so it falls well within reason for Ubuntu. The installation went smooth and I added a USB 2.0 card to support his multi-function printer and external hard drive. Of course the Internet and email are no problem with Ubuntu, and he and his wife love all the included games.

Porting his Quicken data and Quicken tendencies to Ubuntu remains the highest hurdle. I initially installed GnuCash thinking it would do all he needed to do, but on this older machine, GnuCash opened and operated extremely slowly. The interface turned out to be anything but user friendly, and it didn’t print checks very well. GnuCash did import his Quicken data without a hitch, but navigating the program takes a lot of patience and knowledge. Compared to the smooth and easy to understand interface of Quicken, GnuCash looked dated and too institutional.

After a little more research, I decided to install KMyMoney. KMyMoney installed quickly and opened quickly. Importing his .qif file from Quicken didn’t work so well, however. I ended up importing the GnuCash file. After the data came across, KMyMoney operated much smoother and sports an extremely user friendly interface. The standard reports are complete and easy to customize. The ledger system looked and functions much like Quicken. For my client, though, the caveat with KMyMoney was no print check utility. Ughh! After more research, it appears that the next version of KMyMoney will have check printing capabilities, but who knows when that will be. For anyone just wanting to manage their money in an easy and friendly environment, KMyMoney looks extremely capable, but if you want to print your checks, tough luck.

I thought, briefly, about installing his old Quicken program in the WINE environment (a Windows simulator of sorts), but after reading about the problems and extensive work and knowledge to get that going, I abandoned the idea.

I generally never get involved in financial programs, but took this project on for the learning experience and the ability to see what new ways I could stretch Ubuntu. In my opinion, Ubuntu still works best for Windows user who only use the Internet, email, word processing and digital photography. The only exception being computer users who have a passion for learning and don’t mind researching and trolling forums for answers and advice. This latest foray into Ubuntu did solidify my belief that many of these problems can be avoided through the use of online applications, Web 2.0. With Web 2.0, it doesn’t matter what the operating system is, with a browser and a high speed connection, your applications are available anywhere, anytime.